Monthly Archive for September, 2011

: September, 2011

New York Starbucks cafes continue to simmer with this controversy: Should customers with laptops should be allowed to linger and work long after beverages are consumed?

The latest in this saga comes from a Manhattan-based financial analysis identified as JJ, who says he was kicked out by a Starbucks regional manager. This manager reportedly said “we like to reserve our seating for those who are enjoying our beverages.”

European researchers say they’ve essentially debunked Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, clocking a sub-atomic particle called a neutrino cruising along faster than 186,282 miles per second.

In case you’re not up on your physics, that the speed at which light travels. And if scientists working on the OPERA project are correct, that could mean Einstein’s law — that nothing travels faster than light — is flawed.

Christopher Cristwell, a 25 year-old barista at Starbucks, seemed pretty disgruntled when he donned his green apron (and not much else) and sat down in front of a camera one night.

He gave his future YouTube viewers a knowing look and launched into song: “Welcome to Starbucks, my name is Chris.”

The song meanders on down his list of least favorite customers and drinks. The “rich white lady” who isn’t skinny despite ordering her skinny vanilla latte. The guy who bangs on the windows after the store is closed. (OK, that visual is pretty funny.)

NASA released a short statement Thursday saying the defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will likely enter the Earth’s atmosphere Friday, burning up into several large pieces of debris that will plummet down to the ground.

NASA has been vague about where the space junk will land, saying it’s difficult to determine exactly where the object will enter the atmosphere. But now, scientists say the satellite probably won’t hit anywhere in North America.

Melinda Gates, arguably the most powerful person at the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, just joined Twitter.

Husband Bill joined a while ago, but Melinda has long been a Twitter holdout. Wednesday morning, she finally caved. (Or more likely, her public relations team did.)

She tweeted three times Wednesday, including a message about preparing to go on the Colbert Report next week: “Great meetings today ahead of @ColbertReport and #EducationNation next week. Also caught up briefly with the always riveting @HansRosling.”

Some people might think its’ pretty clever that Ben & Jerry’s is marketing “Schweddy Balls” ice cream in reference to a popular Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Alec Baldwin.

The ladies (and gentlemen?) over at One Million Moms are not those people. The activism group is calling the flavor “anything but appealing,” not to mention tasteless. (With fudge-covered rum balls, could it really be tasteless?)

The group is asking those of a similar mindset to bombard Ben & Jerry’s public relation’s manager with letters demanding that no more pints of “Schweddy Balls” be distributed. Why? Because these moms have had it up to here with the ice cream maker’s antics, mister. Don’t make them turn this car around.